WED 6/6: Ice Cream, Music, Film, Comedy, Trivia

Hey, keeping it brief to get the weekend cheapness on deck.

--------------------------------------------------------------

WED 6/6 (and THUR 6/7)

Noon to 8pm
Scooper Bowl
at City Hall Plaza, Boston (Govt Center)
$8 / $4 for children ages 3 to 9

The sun is out (one day late), and the time is right for all-you-can-eat ice cream anyway. You know gaggles of kids will be there.

At $10 with 37 or so flavors mean that you can sample everything at approximately 27 cents per scoop...

Or it's still rather enjoyable to gorge oneself on a few handfuls of the best flavors from Baskin-Robbins, Ben & Jerry's, Breyer's, Brigham's, Hood, Byrne Dairy, Ciao Bella Gelato, Edy's, Friendly's, and SoCo Creamery.

Proceeds benefit the Jimmy Fund/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

WED 6/6

6:30pm
Silversun Pickups: Performance & Signing
at Newbury Comics, North Market Bldg, 4 Faneuil Hall Market Pl, Boston (Faneuil Hall)
FREE

The Silversun Pickups play pretty big-sized gigs in town, and they were on Letterman the other night. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a large queue to get in for a brief, stripped-down set and a chance for an autograph.

WED 6/6

7pm
"Wiretap Wednesday": Open Stage
at Arts at the Armory Cafe, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville (Spring Hill)
FREE

7pm -- Sign up / social time.
7:30pm -- Open stage begins
8:30pm -- Feature performer: Faulke Yue
9pm to 9:30pm -- Open stage resumes

Performers (up to 20 per night) are invited to sign up and share their best short work (5 minutes or shorter including setup) and be a live-streamed (and archived) Internet star.

Each month will also include a featured artist playing a 25-minute set. I don't know much about Faulke Yue, but the guy's rough voice and rough lyrics are soaked in attitude (and perhaps whiskey).

WED 6/6

8pm
"Beasts of the Southern Wild": IFFBoston Screening
at Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE w/ PDF Pass

Doors at 7:30pm

Most of us haven't heard anything about it, but this film's magical realist take on a girl who survives disaster on the Louisiana coast has already won awards at Sundance and Cannes. If there isn't a feel-good ending, then the trailer is misleading.

WED 6/6

8pm
The Official & Original Pride Idol Finale
at Revere Boston Common Hotel, 200 Stuart St, Boston (Theater District)
$10

Feeling prouder yet? It's halfway through Boston Pride Week.

It would be great if Pride Idol would be bursting with camp and drama, but the contestants will be serious about singing. (Could this be less gay than "American Idol"?) The winner will perform at the Pride Festival on Saturday.

The camp will surely be supplied by the MC, Hedda Lettuce, and the judges that might include Mix 104.1's Fast Freddy and The Track Gals.

WED 6/6

8pm
"The Horse's Mouth": Stand up Comedy
at Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
Donations Welcome

10pm
The Prefab Messiahs, Jesse Gallagher, Bobb Trimble's Flying Spiders
at Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$3 / 21+

Go early for some laughs or later for psych/garage that leans heavy on classic Worcester sounds with a little Apollo Sunshine thrown in. Either way it costs little to show up, so you might just want to hang out all night.

WED 6/6

9pm
"Champion Of Champions": Pub Trivia
at Middle East - Corner, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
FREE

I wish I could tell you about these trivia dudes, because it sounds like they take pub trivia up a notch. (Combining elements that are reminiscent of Dicecapades and Cranium?)

Sounds like a lot of fun, and it's going down at the Middle East Corner on a couple Wednesdays (1st and 3rd) per month -- beginning tonight.

WED 6/6

9pm
The Bastard Suns, Josh Rosen's Melting Pot
at Milky Way Lounge / Bella Luna, 284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain (The Brewery Complex)
$5 / 21+

This gig made me do a double-take, especially after I listened to The Bastard Suns. They really are a punk band from Georgia, and Josh Rosen is a local jazz pianist who describes this group as "jazzadelic".

Kudos to the Milky Way for challenging listeners with the musical contrast! The Bastard Suns have an tight sound that might be appreciated by non-punk-fans, but we can probably assume that it's jazz first and punk afterwards.

WED 6/6

9pm
The Decent Lovers, Seer Group, Streight Angular, The Woodrow Wilsons
at Middle East - Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
18+ / $9

There's going to be a lot of love in the room tonight along with a lotta folky and synthy indie-pop and party-rock. Besides being musical buddies, the guy from Seer Group gave a kidney to the main Decent Lover.

When I first heard some of these artists a couple years ago, there was a full-on acoustic approach; listen closely and you can still hear the auto-harp in the Decent Lovers tunes. It all sounds really cool through the progression.